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<title>The One Who Fooled Himself by Strummer</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782527">The One Who Fooled Himself</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strummer/pseuds/Strummer'>Strummer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Other, Random &amp; Short, Sad, Sad Ending, Short, Short One Shot, Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:28:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strummer/pseuds/Strummer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The One Who Fooled Himself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I remember a time when you could hear the name “Edward Blokey” without feeling a cry from the empathy and shame. It’s sad what can happen to such a man, but I suppose it was his fault. It couldn’t of happened any other way, then the way it was written a long time ago: </p><p>Back when the arrangements were that humans were humans and animals would be the animals, Edward, or as some called Ted, was traveling to the big city to begin his new job. It what seemed to be a promotion from his old countryside job, where by the steamy greens and blue of the Hudson River, Mr. Blokey would work as a manager for a general store, which he ran with a mindset stronger then any president, which caught the attention of higher up’s. Knowing Ted was looking to grow bigger with his role, they paid a visit to his softly kept store one Thursday evening. </p><p>The men introduced themselves as “the big boss of it all, for your great company”, and Ted was proud to hear what they had the greatest of words to say about his store, how the costumers wanted more like him, and how they wanted them to come to the headquarters for a special meeting. Ted was interested and arranged it to occur in the 5 days. When leaving to prepare the trip, a teenage man looked at him and began laughing and then said “too bad”. This left Mr. Blokey with a confused face but nonetheless carried on home to start packing. </p><p>Ted was a well kept man, but his rural, Kentucky upbringings shined whenever talked too. He had hair ever so slightly shaggy, his red wool sweater was a little short on the sleeves, and his overalls much too big. Nonetheless, on his way to the big city he kept his big bouncy smile as he ditched his old look for a business suit, bought especially for the occasion.</p><p>Arriving in the area 2 hours ahead of time, Ted decided to have a little lunch, and went to a burger shop around the area to have some chicken. When being served, Mr. Blokey couldn’t help but notice the workers talking about him, calling him “hick” and “hillbilly” and somehow knowing he had important business soon. Once again, he shrugged it off, afterall, the businessmen had come off as angels. </p><p>After finishing his meal, he came to the office and prepared for the big meeting, but what could it be? It seemed unnatural for Ted, but they began by celebrating his great work at his general store. While he still didn’t understand, Mr. Blokey began giving in, smiling, and laughing at what they were saying, but still felt it was going nowhere, was this the promotion he thought it would be? </p><p> </p><p>Around this point, a woman with a warm face and pointy smile came in and began passing around drinks to all. Soon the whole room had a beer in their hand and all looked merry by this point. By this point, Mr. Blokey had finally given all the way in, drinking along with them. </p><p>Ted had now been slipped a Mickey.</p><p>At 4AM, in a dark and depressing alleyway not too far from the headquarters, Ted woke up with a headache worse then any knock in the head imaginable. He realized what had happened the day before, and recalled it grimly: after getting intoxicated quickly from the drink, the surprisingly sober businessmen, grabbed him by the shoulders, and threw him where he lied now, laughing hard, and taking anything he had on him. And he realize the truth.</p><p>He was never promised anything: it was always a trick. See, the way it was written, and the way it happened was just you had seen, no promotion was mentioned to him, no nothing. They wanted him to come to quarters, and they wanted him for different reasons, a demotion. It was human nature that did it to him, because when he expected good to happen, all that happened was the bad. And he knew, he had fooled himself, to believe better.</p><p>Ted began crying in the alleyway, knowing he lost his one true pride and joy of working on a store he kept tight. He cried, and cried, and cried. And after the noise was over, nobody ever heard or saw him again. But they say, if you listen closely in the same alleyway, you'll still hear him crying.</p>
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